17th Convocation for Undergraduate students held at IIT Roorkee

Roorkee: Indian Institute of Technology Roorkee (IIT Roorkee) celebrated its 17th Annual Convocation for the Undergraduate students on 23rd September 2017 at their campus. Shri. A. S. Kiran Kumar, Chairman, Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) graced the occasion as chief guest and delivered the Convocation addresses to the graduated students from IIT Roorkee. Prof. A.K. Chaturvedi, Director, IIT Roorkee presided over the function and delivered the Institute report.

The convocation for post-graduate students will be held on 24th September and Prof. Surendra Prasad, Chairman of the National Board of Accreditation (NBA) and the leader of the NIRF initiative will be gracing the occasion as the chief guest.

Tomorrow a total of 1,013 postgraduate students will be awarded the degrees. 584 M. Tech, 110 M.Sc., 57 MBA, 18 M. Arch, 15 M.U.R.P, 2 MCA and 227 PhD degrees will be handed out to students.

Speaking about the convocation Prof. A. K. Chaturvedi, Director, IIT Roorkee, said, “The past academic year has been very rewarding for IIT Roorkee. It has been able to sustain the 6th ranking among all Engineering Institutes in the NIRF rankings for the second year running.”

“Convocation is an important occasion for an educational institution when we charge the graduating students with a pledge to dedicate themselves to the profession they choose and to the cause of human development. We are happy to present degrees to 2153 students this year. These students are the real stars and I would like to wish them the very best in their future endeavours as professionals, entrepreneurs and researchers.” Prof. A. K. Chaturvedi added.

IIT Roorkee has excelled over the past year in many areas like Scientific research at the Institute, Sponsored Research, Student and Faculty Achievements, Industrial and Research collaboration.

IIT Roorkee are proud of our faculty Prof. Kaustav Chatterjee, Department of Civil Engineering who was selected for the John Carter Award 2017 for his outstanding research potential in Geomechanics. The Institute also congratulates Sidharth Arora, PhD Scholar in the Department of Biotechnology for being awarded the Biotechnology Ignition Grant (BIG) by BIRAC for his project on production of thermo-tolerant and acid-stable Phytase in a novel solid-state fermentation (SSF) bioreactor.

Research by Prof. K.L. Yadav, Department of Physics to develop a low- cost method of Osteoarthritis and the Early Earthquake Warning system developed and installed by Prof. M. L. Sharma, Department of Earthquake Engineering or the ‘Low-cost Jamun Solar Cells’ developed by Prof. Soumitra Satapathi’s group in the Department of Physics are some of the outstanding work being undertaken by the researchers at the Institute to address critical problems of the society.

A total of 246 companies visited the institute for campus recruitment and 1167 offers were made. Out of these, 80 companies visited for the first time and 114 core companies made 451 offers. Some key companies which visited the campus were Microsoft (Redmond), Samsung Research India, Schlumberger, Shell, Reliance Industries Ltd., ITC Ltd., American Express India, Qualcomm India Private Ltd., Exxon Mobil among others.

Addressing the graduating students, Dr. A.S. Kiran Kumar, Chairman, Indian Space Research Organization (ISRO) said, “I extend my hearty congratulations and best wishes to all students for having achieved this milestone through excellent academic performance. This achievement will provide you a strong pedestal as you progress in your career. Please keep in mind that graduation is just the beginning. The process of learning goes on as long as you live.”

“Enriched with modern technology, the world seems colorful. However, as you move out of the protected environment, you will face the open world and realize its enormity. Do not forget your first and foremost responsibility to establish yourself in the field of technology with a relentless strive of knowledge and acumen to excel in your career. “, Shri. A. S. Kiran Kumar added

Talking about the achievements of the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO), Shri. Kiran Kumar said, “India has made significant contributions to global astronomy and space research. Our Mars Mission which was launched with a mission life of 6 months will complete its third anniversary on 24th September, which is a remarkable achievement.”

Shri. Kiran Kumar also mentioned that ISRO is planning to launch the ‘Chandrayan-2’ mission in the near future which will consist of an orbiter, lunar lander and rover.

For the first time, away from conventional robes, the students were dressed in white kurta, black trousers, black shoes with angvastra around their neck. The angvastra had specific color as per the degree/programme. These are: